ASPM System Overview

Contents

Introduction

The Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) online access system provides detailed data on flights to and from the ASPM airports (currently 77); and all flights by the ASPM carriers (currently 22), including flights by those carriers to international and domestic non-ASPM airports. All IFR traffic, and some VFR traffic for these carriers and airports is included.

ASPM flight records fall into two groupings: Efficiency Counts and Metrics Counts. ASPM Efficiency Counts are intended to capture all traffic handled by controllers at the ASPM 77 airports. ASPM Metrics Counts, the basis of delay calculations displayed in the Analysis and Individual Flights modules, exclude General Aviation and Military flights, as well as local (non-itinerant) traffic and records for international flights missing data on the non-U.S. portion of the flight. Efficiency flights may include records missing pieces of data; Metric flights require records that are fully specified, or for which missing data elements can be estimated. The purpose of these two groupings is to allow for a more complete traffic count (Efficiency Counts)at the ASPM77 airports, while ensuring that only records with fully specified flight information are used for calculating delay and other metrics (Metric Counts). Flight cancellations are excluded from both Efficiency and Metrics Counts.

ASPM reports also provide data on airport weather, runway configuration, and airport arrival and departure rates. This combination of flight and airport information provides a robust picture of air traffic activity for these airports and air carriers. Preliminary next-day ASPM data is used by the FAA for close monitoring of airport efficiency and other aspects of system performance, and finalized ASPM data is invaluable for retrospective trend analysis and targeted studies.

Documentation on ASPM, as well as the other systems available at ASPM.faa.gov, can be found at Main Page.

The ASPM database is compiled piece by piece beginning with basic flight plan and other message data for flights captured by the Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS), enhanced with next-day OOOI data, updated with published schedule data, and further updated and enhanced with BTS Aviation System Quality and Performance (ASQP) records which include OOOI data, final schedule data, and carrier-reported delay causes for the largest U.S. carriers.

The components of today's ASPM have been developed and extensively examined over many years by stakeholders, including FAA internal organizations and many of the major airlines and aviation research groups. Each step of the ASPM process has been debated, tested, and tuned. At each point, our goal has been to implement decision rules that result in the most complete and valid representation of air traffic possible given the quality and quantity of data available.

Carriers

Only select carriers are tracked in ASPM. These are known as the ASPM Carriers. Other carriers may be found in ASPM when the non-ASPM carriers serve ASPM airports.

Airports

Only select airports are tracked in ASPM. These are known as the ASPM Airports. The Core 30 and OEP 35 airports are a subset of the ASPM Airports. Other airports may be found in ASPM when the ASPM carriers serve those airports.

Data Sources and Update Cycle

ASPM records are created using data from a variety of sources with varying update cycles. Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS) and and ARINC supply next-day operational data, and Innovata provides flight schedule data, while Airline Service Quality Performance (ASQP)
provides finalized schedule data, Out Off On In data, and delay causes as reported by the carriers after the close of each month. ASPM is further enhanced with weather data and airport specific information. ASPM records cannot be considered final until approximately 90 days after the end of each fiscal year, pending receipt of corrected input files for any of the data sources. For a one page summary of ASPM data sources and update cycles of the individual sources, see ASPM: Data Sources and Update Cycle. For a schedule of update processes, see Summary of Update Frequency.

Data Availability

ASPM records are updated as data become available from the various input data sources. ASPM records based on preliminary data are available to registered on a next-day basis, whereas updated records are not available until 6-8 weeks after the end of each calendar month, and the data cannot be considered final until approximately 90 days after the end of the fiscal year, pending receipt and incorporation of any corrected input files.

Data are available from January 2000 to present for 55 airports. Data for additional 20 airports are available from October 2004 to present. Arrival/departure rates and runway configuration data are available from January 1, 2000 to present. Delay information is available from January 1, 1998 to present. Data are Internet-accessible by 0700 each week day.

Change History

Aside from periodic updates corresponding with the availability of new data, historical ASPM data are modified once per year, typically in May, based on revised unimpeded taxi times by airport as calculated using data from the previous calendar year. At that time, records for the current calendar year through the previous month are modified. In addition, ASQP data and other input files are occasionally re-reported to correct an error or omission. As a result, ASPM data should not be considered final until approximately 90 days after the end of each fiscal year.